SpaceX Signs Deal with Space Tourism Company to Send Tourists to Space by 2021

Some lucky, and wealthy, adventurous tourists will most likely have the chance to go on a trip orbiting Earth as part of their yearly travels in 2021. 

SpaceX has signed a deal with the space tourism company, Space Adventures, to organize such trips. 

Space Adventures has already organized a handful of Space trips to the International Space Station (ISS) between the years 2001 and 2009. 

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Space tourist flights

Imagine being part of the group of four people that will fly into space aboard SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft in 2021. As per their press release released on Tuesday, Space Adventures plans to do just that. 

SpaceX employees with Crew Dragon before it departed our Hawthorne factory for the launch site in Florida – one step closer to returning human spaceflight capabilities to the United States! pic.twitter.com/ekaVJf9HDt

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) February 12, 2020

The passengers would be flying around Earth's orbit for five days in the 13-foot-wide SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft, enjoying views of Earth like very few have seen before. 

Flying up to three times higher in orbit than the ISS, Space Adventures' chairman Eric Anderson explained that the trip would go further than anyone has traveled to in decades. 

The @SpaceAdventures on @spacex Dragon free-flyer announced today can provide orbital views not seen by anyone since Gemini 11 - check out the change as the altitude increases: https://t.co/Zj31CGJuiu

— Eric Anderson (@ec_anderson) February 18, 2020

What's yet to be determined is which individuals will be joining the flight. As the trip will most likely cost "in the range as other orbital spaceflight opportunities," as a Space Adventures spokesperson said, we're looking at prices in the range of tens of millions of dollars. 

Additionally, SpaceX's Crew Dragon first needs to be certified by NASA, something that could occur within the next few weeks. SpaceX has carried out myriad tests in the hope of sending tourists to orbit, and is just a few months shy from sending NASA astronauts up to the ISS for the first time ever. 

At an altitude of ~3x the ISS, the view is ~10x, as it increases by square of altitude. @SpaceAdventures @SpaceX https://t.co/czuAmf7VI4

— Eric Anderson (@ec_anderson) February 18, 2020

The Space Adventures Crew Dragon private astronaut trips are currently expected to take off by the end of 2021 and will operate out of SpaceX's launch site at Cape Canaveral in Florida.